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Right, it's really about strategic positioning because anyone will fall into a trap and be easily lured when they are very, very, very desperate. Like if you're broke and you have no money, yeah, you're going to be lured into all sorts of shady business deals. And if you're in this position where you haven't been socializing, you've been playing video games your whole life, living in your mother's basement, yeah, now you're in such a desperate position for sex that you're going to be tempted and lured in by all sorts of shady sexual schemes and offers. So, it is about positioning yourself strategically such that you're not in these kind of compromised positions. Then, of course, you can't avoid all of them, but you do the best you can. See, as you get trapped, you get more desperate, and as you get desperate, your options get worse, trapping you in even more. And it's sort of this negative vicious cycle. This can be sort of a cycle of addiction, like maybe you were abused as a child and you got traumatized, so that's already made you kind of desperate, emotionally vulnerable and so forth. And that makes you, of course, now, because you don't have a healthy emotional state, now that makes you susceptible now to intoxicants and drugs, and you start with a bit of alcohol, then you move on to weed, then you move on to cocaine, then you move on to heroin, you see? And this gradually makes you more and more and more desperate over time. And then, you know, when you're at the bottom of that spiral, you're so desperate that it seems like you have no way out. And in that case, what you need to do is you need to ask for help. You need to look for help from other people who are, you know, who can, who are in a good place in life such that they have abundant resources that they could help you because you're at the point where you've tapped yourself out. So, be careful about those kind of compromising situations that you can put yourself in. Traps are a mirror of our desires and fears. We fall into traps because they tap into something we crave or wish to avoid. Here's a quote that I'll read to you from an AI that I got from an AI. The Claw 3 AI says, "Traps are a mirror that reflect back to us our own psychological and emotional landscape." I thought that was a especially eloquent beautiful way of summarizing this whole thing. Here are some exercises that you can do that will help you to get a better handle on traps and to avoid traps. The first exercise is write down a list of 10 traps you've fallen into in your life in the past and then ask yourself what led you to fall into each trap. What did you learn from each trap? And importantly, in what way were these traps ultimately a gift? Don't forget that traps are not just purely negative things unless they're catastrophic, but even some of the catastrophic traps honestly can also ultimately be converted into gifts, and your ability to do that, your mental resourcefulness to do that is a very powerful skill. And maybe that deserves an episode all on its own, how to reframe this kind of negative stuff. In fact, I need to do an episode on reframing. That's powerful. And here's another exercise for you. Write down a list of five traps that other people who you know have fallen into. Friends, family members, romantic partners. And then ask yourself what led them to fall into these traps and how will you avoid falling into those traps? And then, here's an extra powerful question which is, what traps am I specifically susceptible to? What traps does my unique personality and life situation expose me to? Because you see, we're all quite different. We have different consciousnesses, different levels of development, different genetics, different personality types, different strengths and weaknesses. And that of course influences what kind of things we will be lured in by and susceptible to. So, you have to not just know about traps in general but specifically what kind of traps you're vulnerable to. Some people are much more vulnerable to alcoholism than others, genetically. You have to know that about yourself. If that's true for you, maybe some people can just go out and drink every night, and they're not vulnerable. But you're vulnerable, so you can't do that. However, you may have other advantages that those people don't have. Here are some meta-traps, very high level traps: Thinking that you're immune to a particular trap. For example, telling yourself, "Well, I would never join a cult; I could never join a cult because I'm too intelligent." Of course, that makes you more vulnerable to joining a cult if you believe that. Thinking that you've escaped a trap. Sometimes there's a trap within a trap within a trap. You might think, "Well, I've already escaped this trap, Leo, so it's not a big deal." But you don't realize that there's a deeper, more advanced version of that trap that you still haven't escaped. Watch out for that one. Especially true when you're getting into advanced spiritual stuff. You might think you've awakened to the max. But then, what you'll realize is that there's something beyond that. It's easy to overlook because you might think, "Well, I've escaped the ego; I've already awoken. So, what more could there be?" This kind of trap, in general, thinking that you're immune to self-deception, will be a trap. Criticizing, judging, and ridiculing others too much for falling into traps is a trap. Because the more you judge and criticize others, the harder it becomes for you to admit when you fall into traps yourself. Denying that you've fallen into a trap when you have is a big trap. If you can't even admit you've fallen into it, like if you can't even admit that you're doing some of the things listed above that are problematic, half the challenge is just admitting that you're doing some of these things honestly. Because you're going to be in denial about it, which is a trap. These traps can snowball and work together against you. Sometimes, you're not just dealing with one trap; you're dealing with multiple traps. For example, you're in denial that you're an addict, maybe using psychedelics but have turned it into an addiction now, and you're doing spiritual bypassing with psychedelics. If you ridicule others for falling into traps and you think they're stupid for doing that, automatically, that means you're going to think you're stupid for falling into traps. And you don't want to think you're stupid, so you're not going to want to admit that you fall into some of these traps. Sometimes, you can look like a real fool falling into one of these traps, like joining a cult. You might think you were just joining some sort of mild, good-mannered spiritual community, but it turned out to be a cult, and you were really fooled by that. But you don't want to admit that because you've been ridiculing others who joined cults. Another meta-trap is worrying about avoiding all the traps and getting paranoid about it, which will make you very risk-averse, get you stuck in your head, make you very indecisive, and then maybe you won't even take action because you are too afraid to fail and make a mistake, and you think that everything is a catastrophic trap, which isn't true. Getting paranoid about traps is itself a trap.

I would much rather Leo make a video on the traps of Buddhism/Spirituality than the traps of atheism. I see religion/spiritual new age bs as a deeper problem. So many people on here are Buddhist rats who think they are already awakened. I think atheism is rather easy to deconstruct. All you have to do is open your mind to the possibility that the source of your intelligence doesn’t come from you but from the Universe itself. Some traps of Buddhism that I think should be discussed are: 1. Meditation being over-idealized - there should be more emphasis on contemplation than meditation. Meditation will shut your mind off but contemplation will make you more intelligent and aware. 2. Too much attachment to Buddha and Buddhist teachings (isn’t it a contradiction to be attached to Buddhist teachings and the Buddha if the teachings are all about non-attachment?) 3. Group-think.

Right, it's really about strategic positioning because anyone will fall into a trap and be easily lured when they are very, very, very desperate. Like if you're broke and you have no money, yeah, you're going to be lured into all sorts of shady business deals. And if you're in this position where you haven't been socializing, you've been playing video games your whole life, living in your mother's basement, yeah, now you're in such a desperate position for sex that you're going to be tempted and lured in by all sorts of shady sexual schemes and offers. So, it is about positioning yourself strategically such that you're not in these kind of compromised positions. Then, of course, you can't avoid all of them, but you do the best you can. See, as you get trapped, you get more desperate, and as you get desperate, your options get worse, trapping you in even more. And it's sort of this negative vicious cycle. This can be sort of a cycle of addiction, like maybe you were abused as a child and you got traumatized, so that's already made you kind of desperate, emotionally vulnerable and so forth. And that makes you, of course, now, because you don't have a healthy emotional state, now that makes you susceptible now to intoxicants and drugs, and you start with a bit of alcohol, then you move on to weed, then you move on to cocaine, then you move on to heroin, you see? And this gradually makes you more and more and more desperate over time. And then, you know, when you're at the bottom of that spiral, you're so desperate that it seems like you have no way out. And in that case, what you need to do is you need to ask for help. You need to look for help from other people who are, you know, who can, who are in a good place in life such that they have abundant resources that they could help you because you're at the point where you've tapped yourself out. So, be careful about those kind of compromising situations that you can put yourself in. Traps are a mirror of our desires and fears. We fall into traps because they tap into something we crave or wish to avoid. Here's a quote that I'll read to you from an AI that I got from an AI. The Claw 3 AI says, "Traps are a mirror that reflect back to us our own psychological and emotional landscape." I thought that was a especially eloquent beautiful way of summarizing this whole thing. Here are some exercises that you can do that will help you to get a better handle on traps and to avoid traps. The first exercise is write down a list of 10 traps you've fallen into in your life in the past and then ask yourself what led you to fall into each trap. What did you learn from each trap? And importantly, in what way were these traps ultimately a gift? Don't forget that traps are not just purely negative things unless they're catastrophic, but even some of the catastrophic traps honestly can also ultimately be converted into gifts, and your ability to do that, your mental resourcefulness to do that is a very powerful skill. And maybe that deserves an episode all on its own, how to reframe this kind of negative stuff. In fact, I need to do an episode on reframing. That's powerful. And here's another exercise for you. Write down a list of five traps that other people who you know have fallen into. Friends, family members, romantic partners. And then ask yourself what led them to fall into these traps and how will you avoid falling into those traps? And then, here's an extra powerful question which is, what traps am I specifically susceptible to? What traps does my unique personality and life situation expose me to? Because you see, we're all quite different. We have different consciousnesses, different levels of development, different genetics, different personality types, different strengths and weaknesses. And that of course influences what kind of things we will be lured in by and susceptible to. So, you have to not just know about traps in general but specifically what kind of traps you're vulnerable to. Some people are much more vulnerable to alcoholism than others, genetically. You have to know that about yourself. If that's true for you, maybe some people can just go out and drink every night, and they're not vulnerable. But you're vulnerable, so you can't do that. However, you may have other advantages that those people don't have. Here are some meta-traps, very high level traps: Thinking that you're immune to a particular trap. For example, telling yourself, "Well, I would never join a cult; I could never join a cult because I'm too intelligent." Of course, that makes you more vulnerable to joining a cult if you believe that. Thinking that you've escaped a trap. Sometimes there's a trap within a trap within a trap. You might think, "Well, I've already escaped this trap, Leo, so it's not a big deal." But you don't realize that there's a deeper, more advanced version of that trap that you still haven't escaped. Watch out for that one. Especially true when you're getting into advanced spiritual stuff. You might think you've awakened to the max. But then, what you'll realize is that there's something beyond that. It's easy to overlook because you might think, "Well, I've escaped the ego; I've already awoken. So, what more could there be?" This kind of trap, in general, thinking that you're immune to self-deception, will be a trap. Criticizing, judging, and ridiculing others too much for falling into traps is a trap. Because the more you judge and criticize others, the harder it becomes for you to admit when you fall into traps yourself. Denying that you've fallen into a trap when you have is a big trap. If you can't even admit you've fallen into it, like if you can't even admit that you're doing some of the things listed above that are problematic, half the challenge is just admitting that you're doing some of these things honestly. Because you're going to be in denial about it, which is a trap. These traps can snowball and work together against you. Sometimes, you're not just dealing with one trap; you're dealing with multiple traps. For example, you're in denial that you're an addict, maybe using psychedelics but have turned it into an addiction now, and you're doing spiritual bypassing with psychedelics. If you ridicule others for falling into traps and you think they're stupid for doing that, automatically, that means you're going to think you're stupid for falling into traps. And you don't want to think you're stupid, so you're not going to want to admit that you fall into some of these traps. Sometimes, you can look like a real fool falling into one of these traps, like joining a cult. You might think you were just joining some sort of mild, good-mannered spiritual community, but it turned out to be a cult, and you were really fooled by that. But you don't want to admit that because you've been ridiculing others who joined cults. Another meta-trap is worrying about avoiding all the traps and getting paranoid about it, which will make you very risk-averse, get you stuck in your head, make you very indecisive, and then maybe you won't even take action because you are too afraid to fail and make a mistake, and you think that everything is a catastrophic trap, which isn't true. Getting paranoid about traps is itself a trap.

@gettoefl So I understand that materialism isn't true but then what would materialism feel like is what I am curious about. I agree that no self is the truth of our nature (I haven't yet awakened to it yet, but putting in the work) but then what would being a mind and body feel like?

Here Adam talks about some of the final stages he went thru, Experiencing Original Nature (Sing in Daoism) and he talks about Dissolving and then coming back to Form, he uses the analogy of becoming the Ocean and then becoming Ice, and going back and forth but the common element is Water, learning to discern that between the shifting btwn the two states you are always Water, Water meaning the Brahman, Atman, Dao, Infinite Universe of formlessness, God or whatever label you want to use..He also discusses the mistake of making the experience a Noun by announcing or thinking "I am Enlightened or I have Arrived/Awakened", since this is about Infinity and such there is no End to it and by thinking/identifying that there is, you stop the process... He also talks about how the paths differ, Shamanism path of using drugs, or Mystic path of using doing/non doing practices, and if You don't want to go all the way how just 15-50min a day of steady practice can get You stress free and full of Well Beingness...Very Wise Man and path!!

I think this guy explains it very well... I take the liberty of copy pasting this message that I think it goes well with the discussion in here... it's from Reddit from the Non Duality forum: Non Duality - There is Nothing but the ONE MIND - Drop ALL Dogma and Find Freedom! Discussion So I don't plan to make many more posts about anything like this because I finally saw it and I get it at long last. There is nothing left for me to learn, I don't mean this arrogantly. I just mean I get it! I am no longer interested in dogma or meditations or anything else. I have been in Void like states for the past week or so now. I am only writing this to help anyone who may of been lost like I was. Yes it was mind blowing too. It made me realize that the more I looked outside and the more I gained knowledge, the more lost I had become. I now get what Non duality is and what it isn't. It is not about ego deaths, awareness, observers or being observed. Even cliche terms like Enlightenment and Awakening do not touch upon it. It is none of those things and to use terms like these are to create dualities where there are none and to fall into extreme ignorance. All of these terms and concepts are the real illusions we must overcome. If I say today that I awakened. It means that tomorrow I can fall asleep again. I am now in some battle of being awakened vs being asleep. I am the One Mind that is the SOURCE OF ALL THINGS! My mind is the source of being awakened and being asleep. To say I am awakened or enlightened is to stay highly ignorant and to create a duality where there are none. There is no ego to kill, to say I have an ego is to say there is an entity that exists apart from the One Mind. Anything I call an ego, is just a concept within the One Mind. The idea of an ego is another fantasy concept made up and imagined to be some kind of obstacle to be got rid of i.e - it is Complete nonsense. If you believe an ego exists, then you believe in something having some level of independent existence. There is nothing to be achieved, attained, gained or realized. These are all dualities again. Again, you are creating obstacles where there are none. Any of these terms hint that we must seek outside of ourselves to find the One mind, there is only the One mind. We simply need to see the Nature of our own mind, which is the One Universal Mind. Non duality is the realization that everything is merely a creation of the ONE MIND and we all share that ONE Mind. There is nothing else to get your head around or understand. That is Non duality in a nutshell. There is no Real or Illusion either, to say something is real or to say something is an illusion is to create a duality. To say something exists and something does not exist is another duality. Everything is just the One Universal Mind. Remove all your concepts, dogma, rituals and belief systems and simply See this and you then you will partake in the Void. The state where you no longer feel separate or independent, you know you are everything and everything is you. The place where you see that everything is just emptiness and nothingness, all attachment having vanished into thin air. The Void is the place where you truly FEEL FREE! It is not enlightenment or awakening it is FREEDOM from all concepts and belief systems. You simply know that All is just a creation within the ONE Mind. Your mind being the ONE Mind that creates all and is the Only Reality and Original Source of all things. A quote from Huang Po to finish - 'All the Buddhas and all sentient beings are nothing but the One Mind, beside which nothing exists. This Mind, which IS without beginning, is unborn (Unborn not in the sense of eternity, for this allows contrast with its opposite; but unborn in the sense that it belongs to no categories admitting of alteration or antithesis). and indestructible. It is not green nor yellow, and has neither form nor appearance. It does not belong to the categories of things which exist or do not exist nor can it be thought of in terms of new or old. It is neither long nor short, big nor small, for it transcends all limits, measures, names, traces, and comparisons. It IS that which you see before you-- begin to reason about it and you at once fall into error. It is like the boundless void which cannot be fathomed or measured. The One Mind alone is the Buddha, and there is no distinction between the Buddha and sentient things, but that sentient beings are attached to forms and so seek externally for Buddhahood. By their very seeking they lose it, for that is using the Buddha to seek for the Buddha and using mind to grasp Mind.'

Wanna hear a funny story? So, I have been dating this super hot Russian girl for the past year and a half, right... She's not 'awake' or into spirituality, personal development or anything like that. She's super smart and highly educated, but does not see past those limitations. It could be said that she's as hardcore stage orange as it gets. So yeah, our relationship was challenging - to say the least - as I'm sure you can imagine. Point is, we've been living together in the middle of nowhere all this time. She had her circle of friends (that I could not resonate less with) and I was more or less committed to hardcore isolation, working on my life purpose, etc. I rarely ever went out with her group... And then, a few days ago, out of nowhere... she comes home with this utter disbelief on her face and says to me that she met a girl who is just like me. She said she spoke about the same concepts, used similar words and phrases, described similar experiences, etc. It's as if she was listening to one of my nondual ramblings - she said. She was excited, intimidated, and more. I was surprised too - to say the least. An awakened being, somewhere here by, in the middle of nowhere? - I thought to myself. That's fucking epic. But also... who gives a shit. Never met the girl myself. Probably won't either. Don't feel at a loss.

I used to watch Jim a while back, few years back then I stopped. No particular reason as I like to spread my wings. Tony, I've only seen one or two of his videos, but I'm not a fan. Anna yes, I love her and have been watching her for a while. I watched a lot of stuff. Now after my confusion crises seemed to happen and I accidentally stumbled across Emerson non-duality and started watching him a lot, something happened as described in my "Oh My God, this is it" thread and ever since then a lot of the contraction seems to apparently fell away from the body allowing for more clarity, even though that's still only apparent since there's no one that gains more clarity. It's more of a losing. Then i've been watching a lot of Jim lately. The funny thing is I was already familiar with Jim but it was never as clear as it seems to be happening now. A lot of the stuff he says seems so obvious now and has broken away a lot of the confusion that seemed to be happening. It's the only message that totally resonates with something inside the body and is loosening the contraction a bit. No one is doing it, it's just seeming to happen. It's not a doing but more of an undoing, if you may. Everything now is less tension and the seeking energy is dieing. There's still remnants of an individual here and I'm not claiming to be awakened or anything like that. I'm not even saying there's not a me or that there's a me, it's just what seems to arise in the talking but is not being claimed as a me doing it. Its hard to speak without saying I or me but it doesn't matter.

Oh yeah....explain it. Because I predict you will deny the existence of something. And what I am telling you, that means you have not fully awakened. Even Tony Parsons won't deny the existence of something. He will just say its an apparent something. The only thing he denies is the existence of God. And that is because he is not conscious that he is God. Or why we use the term God to begin with. Then you got James123 or whatever his name is denying the existence of God and denying creation even though evidence for all of that is all around us. You and many others are not aware of what's going on. Reality is a mind game of identity. Since everything is ONE, to maintain an identity of seperation you have to DENY some aspect of Reality. So the only way to discover ONENESS is you have to break out of your identity and that involves first denying the identity. But then to grow your awareness you have to rebuild your identity and ACCEPT everything. To ACCEPT everything is to exclude NOTHING. So what does this mean? It means you must aim to understand ALL perspectives. If you understand all perspectives....then nothing is denied. I know why you speak as you do, I know why James speaks as he does, but you do not know why I speak as I do. As such you have a particular bias you are trapped in. You deny something, but you ACT as if something exists. How do we know? Because you are on the forums typing and responding. This means you are LYING to yourself, you have created a belief system that denies your reality. This is called Gaslighting. You are gaslighting yourself which is what happens when you create a belief system. How do we know its a belief system? Because in your direct experience....you are typing, and that means there IS SOMETHING. SOMETHING IS NOTHING!!!! Depending on which conscious state you are in, it will be felt as more Something or more Nothing. It's BOTH. The moment you lean either way....you are lost. The teachings are meant to exaggerate because you are very attached in an exaggerated way. But the funny thing is, they just cause some people sometimes to just become exaggerated on Nothing out of fear of ever falling into delusion again. You need to have the courage to connect and feel for something again. You only lost motivation because you disconnected yourself from all that is. You need to go back to embracing all that is and reconnect to it as Nothing and then you will discover IT IS SOMETHING. And..that...is LOVE.

Enlightenment entails no duties or responsibilities. It is not an ideal that demands a particular kind of behavior. If you think it has turned you into a pure saint and requires you to live an austere and holy life and behave with perfect love, you have enlightenment sickness. Enlightenment cannot be equated with sainthood, because behavior depends on the nature of the instrument (body&mind) through which awareness functions, not on the self. For example, electricity flowing through a light bulb produces light. Functioning through a stereo, it produces sound. Operating through a heater, it causes heat. If only sattvic samskaras (peaceful habits) remain, saintly behavior will manifest, but rajas (egoism) and tamas (ignorance) can never be completely eliminated. If self knowledge came after a long period of diligent spiritual practice under the tutelage of a pure teacher, you will probably not catch enlightenment sickness. You would have lived in such a simple way that you were already happy before you discovered who you are, and there will be virtually no change in your inner life. You would have associated with enough truly enlightened people to understand that enlightenment is nothing special. But if you were not blessed with a sattvic disposition and excellent karma and you struggled long and hard, you will probably be so eager to make the most of your enlightenment that you will not take time to tidy up the last bits of ignorance. If you formulate your enlightenment as a grand happening and turn it into a big story, you have the enlightenment disease. In reality, you should be happy to keep your mouth shut because you did not get something you did not have all along. Awareness is your nature. By making a fuss about it, you are only calling attention to a long stay in ignorance, not to a special accomplishment. If you hear yourself telling others that you are awakened or enlightened or “cooked,” you have enlightenment sickness. Awakening is not enlightenment, because the self never slept. You are the fire that cooks, not the cooked food. Awakening means that some kind of insight or mystical experience happened, which you define as enlightenment. Enlightenment cancels the ego, so there is no one left to claim he or she is presently awakened. Or if the ego survived, it knows that the self—not it—is enlightened. At best you can say, “I am not enlightened, nor am I unenlightened,” because both enlightenment and endarkenment are simply ideas to you, awareness. Here are two examples of the specious logic of someone who has allowed the ego to co-opt his or her enlightenment: 1) “Consciousness is non-dual. This means that everything is the same as everything else. Therefore, the moral distinctions operating in the creation have no meaning. That is why I do what I want without regard for anyone or anything.” 2) “Reality is non-dual, therefore nothing ever happened. Therefore I do not exist. If I do not exist—I’m so not here!—my dualistic orientation does not exist. So if you see me acting like a self-centered jerk, it is a projection of your ignorance.” Or see what Sri Sureshvara in the 9th century said in the text Panchadasi: “One who says he is awareness yet refuses to discipline the senses is a shit-eating dog. Oh, enlightened one, before you got enlightened you suffered from the pain of your own mental imperfections, but now you suffer the censure of the world. How glorious is your knowledge? Knower of Truth, do not sink to the level of a pig in a sty! Free yourself from the defects arising from your Rajasic and Tamasic tendencies and be worshiped by the world like a god.” If you appreciate the comment of the thirteenth Zen master Dogen, the founder of Soto Zen, “Next to good manners enlightenment is the most important thing in the world,” you are a great soul. If not, not.

Hi Sugarcoat, If self knowledge came after a long period of diligent spiritual practice under the tutelage of a pure teacher, you will probably not catch enlightenment sickness. You would have lived in such a simple way that you were already happy before you discovered who you are, and there will be virtually no change in your inner life. You would have associated with enough truly enlightened people to understand that enlightenment is nothing special. But if you were not blessed with a sattvic disposition and excellent karma and you struggled long and hard, you will probably be so eager to make the most of your enlightenment that you will not take time to tidy up the last bits of ignorance. If you formulate your enlightenment as a grand happening and turn it into a big story, you have the enlightenment disease. In reality, you should be happy to keep your mouth shut because you did not get something you did not have all along. Awareness is your nature. By making a fuss about it, you are only calling attention to a long stay in ignorance, not to a special accomplishment. If you hear yourself telling others that you are awakened or enlightened or “cooked,” you have enlightenment sickness. Awakening is not enlightenment, because the self never slept. You are the fire that cooks, not the cooked food. Awakening means that some kind of insight or mystical experience happened, which you define as enlightenment. Enlightenment cancels the ego, so there is no one left to claim he or she is presently awakened. Or if the ego survived, it knows that the self—not it—is enlightened. At best you can say, “I am not enlightened, nor am I unenlightened,” because both enlightenment and endarkenment are simply ideas to you, awareness. Here are two examples of the specious logic of someone who has allowed the ego to co-opt his or her enlightenment: 1) “Consciousness is non-dual. This means that everything is the same as everything else. Therefore, the moral distinctions operating in the creation have no meaning. That is why I do what I want without regard for anyone or anything.” 2) “Reality is non-dual, therefore nothing ever happened. Therefore I do not exist. If I do not exist—I’m so not here!—my dualistic orientation does not exist. So if you see me acting like a self-centered jerk, it is a projection of your ignorance.” Or see what Sri Sureshvara in the 9th century said in the text Panchadasi: “One who says he is awareness yet refuses to discipline the senses is a shit-eating dog. Oh, enlightened one, before you got enlightened you suffered from the pain of your own mental imperfections, but now you suffer the censure of the world. How glorious is your knowledge? Knower of Truth, do not sink to the level of a pig in a sty! Free yourself from the defects arising from your Rajasic and Tamasic tendencies and be worshiped by the world like a god.”

Yes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahamudra "literally means "great seal" or "great imprint" and refers to the fact that "all phenomena inevitably are stamped by the fact of wisdom and emptiness inseparable". Aka mere empty "imagined" appearances, not existing "out there" but within the Infinite vastness of True Being/Universal Consciousness as mere appearance in this nondual field, not as external objects "out there", aka duality. There is a lot of cultural lingo in Buddhism, especially Tibetan Buddhism, that I didn't understand in the beginning, like why they called it Great Seal. Or Emptiness. Or dependend origination. Or Middle Way. Or No Self. Proto-Mahamudra was imported from India around the 10 century, so the term comes probably from India and is used there also. Daniel Brown once said Mahamudra (for example in his book Pointing out the Great Way) is best for Awakening, and then adding Dzogchen-Methods (the books he translated later, kind of a collection of best of Tibetan Buddhism selected by 33rd Menri Trizin. Mahamudra as explained in Pointing out the Great Way = a nearly mathematical step by step method towards Awakening (Nondual Infinite Field at least temporarily seen by impersonal Awareness itself, but some very subtle processes/filters/lenses still clouding full realization). Before that comes Nonduality (or One Taste), or a separate-self (or ET) merging in Unity with the Infinite Field (of earthly or alien form). Dzogchen = Great Perfection, or the path that completes path to Enlightenment. Or fully ripened Awakened Awareness/Awakening, no clusters of separate-self arisings not transcended/seen through/still clouding Impersonal Infinite Being/Awareness. In my perspective the by far most sophisticated and fastest meditation methods (Mahamudra+Dzogchen) on the planet. Nearly all other methods/systems/techniques/traditions are found within these methods one way or the other, but not the other way round. Selling the Great Seal by the River

Right, I can confirm this is not the degree it awakened for me. But I've heard of it happening in books, videos, forums, etc. I remember reading a post from at least one other member on this forum who also described it. I'm sure it feels like a curse now, but I sincerely hope it becomes a blessing for you later.

Forget about Kundalini Yoga The point is: Something called Kundalini exists in the body To explore and master such thing the yoga was created. But let's not put the cart before the horse. Kundalini is consciousness from the ground up, the most visceral and carnal part of you shaking like a wild horse in consciousness and energy. Many techniques are from mind or consciousness itself, but kundalini is in my experience the root of physicality behaving as what it is, supreme consciousness and intelligence. For me it is. Kundalini is one of the biggest bottlenecks for base line consciousness, as you would imagine your full physical vehicle has to be also updated. So everyone in the path that gets deep enough will encounter kundalini. Frank Yang went through wild kundalini awakenings, although doing vipassana. Leo Gura had a full blown kundalini awakening when he first God-Realized in a 5meo Breakthrough. It's something that is very real and tangible, it's not spiritual fantasies believe. I have been hours on the ground convulsing and crying because of kundalini in ecstatic realeases of what felt the deepest purging of my life. I have been several days in an LSD like state because of kundalini, literally tripping for days straight out as this energy was working through me. I had to learn Kundalini yoga to work with this, as Kundalini certainly was working through me. How to practice Kundalini Yoga? I would say to first wake up the kundalini, by whatever methodology you want. I got it awakened by psychedelics, LSD is particularly good to work with kundalini. Although my first full blown kundalini breakthrough was through an initiation. Doesn't matter how you do it but get a taste of kundalini so that it's not just a story. I like this channel, all you need she teaches: I have written plenty of posts about kundalini, so feel free to search kundalini and in options search by author Davino and you will find them all if you wanna dig deeper. Here is the last one I wrote about it One in a million really fuck it up with kundalini and struggle with it for years. For most people, you are good. For real, it's safe. Although, anecdotically some people have issues, that cannot be swept under the rug either. I have talked personally with two people in the forum that were struggling with this. In my experience, Kundalini is an extremely benevolent and intelligence energy. Is the divine femenine consciousness that permeats all of existence. While the divine masculine consciousness is the ultimate trascendental. To merge shiva and shakti, energy & consciousness, is the ultimate divine act of sex love, because then you will realize that they were never apart to begin with and that merging will feel existential, like two lovers uniting again after an eternity separated. Youir infinity consciousness and your energetic human body and the whole word in an ecstatic dance of shaking, sounds, gutural and primal convulsions. Very unique spiritual experience that many people miss

If you're interested in spirituality, you've probably already passed the threshold for the IQ required to get awakened. The rest has to do with self-awareness of a certain type, which isn't necessarily something a high IQ provides. IQ is just IQ, it's not a global measure of a person's character, worth, professional success or mental well-being. There are certain correlations, and it's certainly difficult to conceive of a functional modern society when the mean IQ is below a certain level, but one can't pick two individuals at random and predict their condition based on IQ disparities. You could have a multimillionaire pro athlete with a 100 IQ and some guy who works at a comic book store with 150.

Do yous ever think about like, whats really going on here. On one half, you have this very consistent, very stable life where its predictable. You wake, and do whatever it is you do each day. Then you're tired, tired of that non sense, and you go to imagination land, subsequent images of things that shouldnt make sense are (for all intensive purposes) a reality. And the same way you were 'tired', whatever that means you start to question aspects of this 37-layer-deep dream, or something happens that signifies the next moment of you 'coming to'... And in that now awakened, and responsive last save-state, you do it over again. Like, what is that. Thats not an arbitrary thing, that has to be like a machine of some kind that doesnt exist without one half strolling along w/ consistency, and the other half where things get all strewn about without the recognition of self identity/or anything self-related. But at the same time it exists... just like... perpetually... why... like, can we find out.... like when you were born as a clean slate, what was that?...

I did one a meditation technique shared by Leo and I become aware of many internal things happening in my body like I could feel the blood running through my veins and many other things. Maybe someone can become awakened after that, who knows?

Nice, many people are unaware that weed can give you an experience of God, I use to wonder as a kid growing up why the Rastafarians smoked weed and after I ate an edible and awakened I realized why they did it. But here is a secret, you can retain the high. I ate an edible and tripped for 2 months and then manually brought down my high. If you want to know how let me know and I'll share it but it may impact your survival lol.

I was just watching a video talking about this, and why some fall back asleep after awakening. Daniel Schmidt loosely talks about this during the second half of the presentation, after about 21:45 minutes in and he talks about “How does one Awaken” and going forward from there. Something about purifying the conditioned patterns of the self, making the self less dense so to speak. He says the first matter is to wake up to who you truly are, but if the self isn’t purified so to speak one may easily fall back asleep, pulled back to sleep by the whirlpool of the mind. The purification isn’t necessary to awaken, however, purifying the self IS necessary to stay awakened. Very interesting what he has to say here, great video infact. I’d suggest watching the whole video though to put everything he says into proper perspective.

That's because you haven't awakened. The paradigm isn't crushed- the ego is literally dissolved. It's entire existence is destroyed. So obviously the next time it returns it is much more cautious and will not allow itself to be dismissed in any way. The beauty of this is that it's not necessary. Ego death need only happen once. The damage was already done. Enlightenment happened.

Tell me something that is not mediated by perception. How are you gonna know "something" behind perception, if you don't perceive it? If it's imperceivable that's just a fantasy. If it can be perceived then, it's perception. The idea of something behind the scenes running the show is archaic. Reality is much more intelligent and efficient than that. It's all the same soup. Each layer is created by perception, it does not exist. Atoms are created by perception zooming into existence and so on with quarks and strings. The same way zooming out, with galaxies, universes and so on. They are generated coherently by perception but there is just one elastic intelligent layer to existence that is identical to perception and Reality. You haven't awakened to what perception is still, you are missing that facet and you are arriving at wrong conclusion like the only way of being present is by the end of the 5 senses which is physical death. There is nothing but presence lol, you are presently lost in the past we could say but present existence is all there could be and from present existence you delude yourself into a paradigm where such things as perceptual lag exists. Take a moment to experience perception and awaken to what perceiving reality actually is like. Focus your attention on actual perception for long periods and habitually and you will eventually breakthrough to the nature of perception.

Bingo Ex-istence = literally means to "stand out" from reality. "Nothing"/No appearance really stands out from Infinite Reality, or exists apart from it. In that (absolute) perspective and realization, every relative appearance is just mere appearance, made out of "mind-stuff", like dreams are made of of "dream stuff". Clear Light, mere lucid appearance without solidity and "externality"/duality, hovering in Infinite Nondual Awareness "Vastness", besides which nothing could "exist", ever. The appearance of the world can appear solid and "out there"(aka material&duality). It can also appear as mere clear light (technical Buddhist term for mere appearance without existence on its own), dream-stuff, appearance, "hovering" in infinite nondual vastness, within ones True Nondual Infinite Being. And having realized that a few times (or better, having that awakened nondual infinite state available all times right here right now), it becomes clear what is really "going on": Mere appearance/Clear light without inherent existence on its own, no "objects" possibly being anywhere. Only ones Infinite True Self, boundless, eternal, morphing, shifting and manifesting mere appearances (and thoughts/feelings, anything that can and does appear). That is what the Buddhists mean with no existence/no self-existence/Middle-path/ Madhyamaka/Absolute Truth. Especially in the dream-stuff or Yoga-Chara-school: Mind(-stuff)/Dream(-stuff) only school https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogachara), on which most newer Buddhist schools are based on . And each and any idea/illusion of individuality, or ideas/identities of being apart from this infinite vastness of mere appearance (like being a human in a body, or ET, or whatever), any I-thought and I-feeling appearing in endless high-speed-machine-gun-illusion/ignorance-Staccato of separate-self-"existence", is just more appearance (of the ignorant/illusion-kind) happening within THAT. And that illusion/hypnotizing can be transcended/switched off with enough speed (being fast enough for that high-speed staccato for not getting hypnotized) & strength (knowing, understanding and having transcended even the most subtle core I-feelings/identities, including "I" am the Infinite Nondual Vastness) of meditation (courtesy for the wording to Frank Yang). Selling THAT by the River.

I'd decided not to do psychedelics for 10+ years because my ego had corrupted all of my psychedelic experiences and the Truth. I was very controversial about my decision to do 5MeO-DMT thinking that It would be a mistake. Nevertheless, my vape arrived this morning and I already had a mid psychedelic experience (near break-trough). I realized that if you don't do psychedelics for a long time your ego corrupts your understanding of what god actually is. Apparently you shouldn't be doing psychedelics every day or even once a week because it will backfire you. It's all about the balance. You need to find the sweet spot. Ego finds solipsism very depressing because it misunderstands it. Ego doesn't have a capacity to understand the Truth. It can only be experienced. People who write books about enlightenment are just entertain themselves. All of us here just entertain ourselves. Nobody is enlightened or awakened here. Because if you are awakened there is no one left. Why would you be on this forum debating the Truth or teach others? You are here because you are spiritual ego and nothing more. I'm writing this as ego. Also, it's very obvious to me that those who have never done 5MeODmT can't even talk about the Truth. Most of you guys just use words and phrases that you heard from gurus and read in spiritual books, You've got no clue what you're talking about. You can't know the Truth or talk about the Truth. You can only be the Truth. Anything else is pure entertainment.

Agreed, it could be the very thing that helps someone cross that seemingly insurmountable gap of authentic awakening. Admittedly, I'm making my judgement of a retreat's effectiveness for myself without ever having attended one. It's something to keep an open mind about I guess. To my knowledge, I've never been in the physical presence of someone who's seriously skilled and awakened. I'd love to try that sometime, as it can supposedly produce profound effects on its own via the entrainment caused by their elevated energetic field.

I agree, it's super interesting. The only retreat I'm aware of that utilizes iboga is the retreat ran by Daniel Schmidt from the video, and I believe they're held in Canada. It also looks like there's none happening until later this year: https://awakentheworld.com/blog/samadhi-center-meditation-retreats/ I'm personally much more interested in taking the concept of utilizing iboga TA extract microdoses for meditation and applying it in the privacy of my own home. Some people do better in a ceremony or retreat environment, which I totally understand and respect, but I think I've always done better on my own. Though I could certainly see the benefit if you have an exceptionally skilled (ie actually awakened) person running it.